Defects worth buying: which problems are opportunities
Not every defect is a reason to walk away. Some are the reason the price is low, and they cost far less than the discount.
The discounts in the market are attached to problems, and the skill is in telling the ones that have a known cost from the ones that do not. A defect with a known cause, a known remedy and a known price is an opportunity. A defect whose extent is unknown is a liability.
The market tends to over-discount certain defects, because buyers price uncertainty rather than cost. That gap is where the value is.
Defects usually worth buying
Each of these looks alarming, has a known remedy, and is frequently priced more harshly than the work justifies.
- Damp from a specific, identifiable cause — a blocked gutter, a failed roof flashing, a leaking pipe — as opposed to rising damp of uncertain origin
- Cosmetic condition: dated kitchens and bathrooms, tired decoration, worn flooring
- A failed boiler or heating system, which is expensive but entirely predictable
- A leaking roof where the structure below is sound
- Overgrown gardens, which cost little to clear and photograph badly
- An old but functional electrical installation, where the remedy is a rewire with a known cost
- Properties that have been empty, where the problem is usually presentation rather than condition
Defects that are usually not worth it
These have an uncertain extent, an uncertain remedy, or no remedy at all, and the discount rarely compensates.
- Structural movement of unknown cause, or subsidence without a monitored history
- Rising damp or penetrating damp where the source cannot be established
- Japanese knotweed on or adjacent to the property, where the treatment and the guarantee are uncertain
- Contaminated land, where remediation costs are unpredictable and the liability can follow the owner
- Flood risk, which affects insurance, mortgageability and resale as well as the property itself
- Non-standard construction that lenders will not accept
- A defective title or an unfavourable covenant that cannot be removed
How to tell the difference
The test is whether you can write down the cause, the remedy and the cost. If you can, the defect is a priced problem and can be bought. If any of the three is unknown, the defect is a liability and the price must include a large allowance for the possibility that it is worse than it looks.
That is why a proper survey is the highest-return money spent on a bargain purchase. It converts an uncertain discount into a known cost, and the conversion usually pays for itself many times over.
Common questions
- Is a property with damp worth buying?
- Yes, if the cause can be identified. Damp from a blocked gutter, a failed flashing or a leaking pipe is a straightforward repair and is often over-discounted. Damp whose source cannot be established, or where rising damp is suspected, carries real uncertainty and should be priced accordingly or avoided.
- Should I avoid subsidence?
- Not always, but it requires expertise. Subsidence with a known cause and a completed, monitored remedy with a guarantee can be acceptable and is often heavily discounted. Subsidence of unknown cause, or where monitoring is incomplete, is a risk that most buyers should not take without a structural engineer's report.